The gospel according to Palovitz

[Ike Bana]

John Pavlovitz (born June 1, 1969) is an American former youth pastor and author, known for his progressive social and political writings from a liberal Christian perspective.

REPUBLICAN, HELP ME UNDERSTAND YOUR CRUELTY

You see, I just don’t wake up in the morning and feel burdened to be cruel to people; to actively push them to the periphery or place obstacles in their paths or deny them the things I have been fortunate enough to have received. I just assume they’re trying as hard as I am and that their lives are difficult enough—and I don’t want to amplify that. It feels like you don’t feel that way. It seems like you’re really just angry and you want lots of people to pay for whatever it is that you feel has been done to you.

If you can take the time to read this from the Rev. Pavlovitz, it gets even better. It's been proffered here that perhaps some of us are being too hard on those on the opposite side of the cultural divide, and often even that there is no cultural divide. Pavlovitz ain't buying it.

He's clear that this is not a hit piece, but an "I don't get it" piece. As pissed off as I am some times, it's really the same for me. It's been my career to understand what makes people tick for a few months short of 30 years now. And after all this time...I don't get it either. I don't get how they can be so cruel. Granted, cruelty toward each other has always run wild in our species...but one would think that a group of people for whom life has gone so well compared with much of what the rest of humanity has forced upon them day after day...would not be quite so...cruel.

[donquixote99]

There is an attitude called hate. I call it the war emotion. It means how we feel towards those we see as enemies, it makes us enjoy the idea of hurting them. Many fantasize about it, or will lash out in minor ways. Smaller numbers act out extensively on such feelings, but I think it's typical to be willing to join in a mob that is out to 'get' an enemy. There are disorders where one does this too intensely, or towards really 'inappropriate' targets. But within bounds it's part of normal human capability.

"Man is basically good' people are in denial here.

People of course vary, some have more hate more readily on tap than others.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

There is an attitude called hate. I call it the war emotion. It means how we feel towards those we see as enemies, it makes us enjoy the idea of hurting them. Many fantasize about it, or will lash out in minor ways. Smaller numbers act out extensively on such feelings, but I think it's typical to be willing to join in a mob that is out to 'get' an enemy. There are disorders where one does this too intensely, or towards really 'inappropriate' targets. But within bounds it's part of normal human capability.

"Man is basically good' people are in denial here.

People of course vary, some have more hate more readily on tap than others.

Perhaps you heard hate from Rev. Pavlovitz...I did not.

I'm from the "mankind are locusts" camp, myself. We have a little intelligence and way too much technology. No doubt there are random acts of kindness that happen, even random acts of self-sacrifice...of course good deeds rarely go unpunished. But when it comes to mankind, wherever we go, sooner or later, everything but the rats and the roaches dies...and I fear, or maybe I don't for the sake of the other critters on the planet, that for mankind the big one is not that far off.

Perhaps my career in the clinical counseling has colored me sardonic.

[donquixote99]

Didn't dig into Palovitz's musings, just went by the topic summary you gave. You want to know why cruelty? Hate is it.

AI will take over running us locusts. It will be good for us and other living things, until the AI figures out we're surplus.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Didn't dig into Palovitz's musings, just went by the topic summary you gave.

Your loss. Summaries are about the summarizer. Pavlovitz is about Pavlovitz. Only the superior among us would presume to refer to another's reflections as "musings" without actually having read any of it.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Your loss. Summaries are about the summarizer. Pavlovitz is about Pavlovitz. Only the superior among us would presume to refer to another's reflections as "musings" without actually having read any of it.

Who among us would get that snarky about informal word choice?

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Who among us would get that snarky about informal word choice?

At least I read the article prior to spewing my opinion. Silly me.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Didn't dig into Palovitz's musings, just went by the topic summary you gave. You want to know why cruelty? Hate is it.

AI will take over running us locusts. It will be good for us and other living things, until the AI figures out we're surplus.

I don't think mankind is "surplus". I also don't think mankind is any better for the planet than any other critter...worse than the other critters actually. The beasts act on instinct, which is always noble. Humans act on impulse and cognitive functions, which may or may not be noble. What we see in human interaction worldwide suggest typically less than noble.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

I don't think mankind is "surplus". I also don't think mankind is any better for the planet than any other critter...worse than the other critters actually. The beasts act on instinct, which is always noble. Humans act on impulse and cognitive functions, which may or may not be noble. What we see in human interaction worldwide suggest typically less than noble.

Didn't say you thought surplus. Attributed such a judgement, speculatively, to our future AI masters. Instinct in my view is just happenstance of evolution, it's not obvious what would be noble about it. Human instincts often strike me as anything but.

[Ike Bana]

The reason why people outside Christianity think that followers of Jesus picking up the cause of tools of mass murder and rapid carnage is a blasphemous disconnect—is because it is. - John Pavlovitz

No, Christian, Jesus Didn’t Say You Can Have Your Guns
FEBRUARY 21, 2018 / JOHN PAVLOVITZ